Times Like These
by Azael
Summary: Sasuke wakes up to a world gone crazy. His rigid views of the world are shattered. This follows Sasuke through his awakening and gradual acceptance of the way things really are. UPDATED 22206
1. Chapter 1

His mind drifted.

This did not feel unusual; more normal, simple and right than anything else he'd ever felt before.

It was more like before that moment, he had not been aware that he had been drifting, and this sudden awareness of _anything_ put an anchor on his mind.

Slowly, facts about who he was started to mingle in with the otherwise perfect feeling of lightness. His name was Uchiha Sasuke. This year, he was sixteen. He should be getting up; Kakashi-sensei expected him in at eight, and he intended to keep the appointment, whether the teacher was there or, as usual, two hours late.

Today was not one of those days that Sasuke relished the thought of getting up. Knowing when to push his body and when to stop, the heir decided that just this once, he'd let himself wake up slowly, rather than forcing his eyes open and slinging his legs over the side of the bed like he usually did.

Sasuke let awareness return slowly to his body.

He became aware of a steady, officious beeping. Damnit. It seemed that his faulty fire alarm had decided to throw another hissy fit. He'd have to remove the batteries again.

He became aware of the weight of his own body, and the yielding mattress under him.

He became aware of his whole body, from the slight chill that had collected in his room overnight, to the needle in his right arm.

Huh?

Sasuke's eyes flew open, or rather, meant to. Only on his second flustered attempt to see did his eyelids finally obey him, and yield up what he had been dreading to see. The white, uncaring ceiling of a hospital.

But what had happened? He had gone to bed, casual as you'd like, after yet another day of training. Unless – there was something wrong with the ramen he'd shared with Naruto. He didn't really believe it was possible, but he'd always found the blonde's favourite restaurant rather dodgy-looking.

Slowly, Sasuke's eyes roved down to the rest of his body, and suffered for it, still sensitive to the light coming in the open window. Yes, there really was a needle in his arm. A neatly placed butterfly clip and a piece of transparent tape over that. Refusing to freak out, and fairly sure someone would come in and tell him what had happened, Sasuke's eyes roved up the path of the tubing, until it became blocked from view behind a head of black hair.

With a start, Sasuke sat up, then stared with a combination of confusion, horror, and rage at who was slumped forward from his uncomfortable-looking hospital chair and resting his head on the side of the bed, fast asleep

Battle cry coming out in a breathy rasp, Sasuke tugged the drip tube out from underneath his brother's head and wrapped it around his neck, pulling with an inhuman strength that came with inhuman anger.

Itachi jumped, hands scrabbling at his neck as he realised what was happening. The elder Uchiha looked up at the snarling face of his brother, dark eyes reminiscent of a kicked puppy. He flailed out, taken completely by surprise, hand mashing the panel of buttons on the side of the bed.

Yakushi Kabuto, newly appointed doctor, responded to the emergency assistance call from Uchiha Sasuke's private room with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. It seemed amazing that the boy might be awake finally, but it was also a possibility that something had gone wrong, and that was why Itachi had pressed the button that he knew was only for _real_ emergencies.

A wry thought entered his mind as he stood stock still in the doorway to the room. '_Does this count_?'

None of his extensive training could have prepared Kabuto of the sight of the supposedly infallible Itachi recoiling with horror away from his brother's hospital bed like he had just been bitten, and the occupant of the bed, a person Kabuto had only seen with eyes shut in a pale face and body almost too still, clawing and screaming bloody murder, bent double, his conveniently folding bed having apparently folded in on him.

At any other point in time, this would have been comical.

"What in the name of…!" Unable to finish his sentence, Kabuto let the end trail off as he dropped his clipboard and hurried over to the bed to try and get it off Sasuke.

The pale, thin boy looked up as he drew near, and glared with malice at the young doctor.

"_You_!"

Taken aback, Kabuto followed the elder Uchiha's lead, and recoiled.

"How long as he been like this?"

Itachi shook his head slowly, dark eyes still focused on his brother, who continued to hiss.

"I only woke up when he tried to kill me."

Never a good sign.

Kabuto clapped a comforting hand down on the brother's shoulder, forcing his thought patterns into the realms of sense again.

"Do you mind holding him still for me? I think that it would be best if Sasuke-kun went back to sleep for a while."

Itachi dumbly nodded, and then dutifully leant forward and held his younger brother down with the apparent ease of a person that isn't quite aware of what he was doing at the time.

Kabuto sidestepped the jounin and pinched a nerve in the side of Sasuke's neck. The cursing ended, and the coma patient's head and arms flopped. The doctor pressed the button that would unfold the bed, then uncomfortably gestured for Itachi to help him as his unconscious brother stayed exactly as he was placed, folded limply in half, head on his knees.

When the room had regained some sense of order, Kabuto called a nurse to deal with the needle that had been forcibly dragged from Sasuke's wrist, then led his numb brother slowly outside, and into his office for a seat.

Once again, the doctor found himself with nothing to say, and no training to back himself up with. In the end, he just dropped the formality, and stood behind Itachi's chair, massaging the seated Uchiha's shoulders. His mouth opened, shut, then opened again.

"I can honestly say that your brother is a very unique patient."

A grunt in reply.

"Do you want to call your parents?"

The muscles in Itachi's shoulders went from like blocks of wood to lumps of ice, and he massaged harder.

"I suppose I should," came the reluctant, quiet reply.

Kabuto crossed to his desk, then pushed the phone to his friend, and sat down, turning to stare out the window, and pretend he wasn't intensely curious and eavesdropping with all his might.

Itachi picked up the receiver and dialed.

"Hello? Mother? It's me."

A pause, where he could hear a faint reply.

"I'm fine, the apartment's very comfortable, thank you. And you?"

Itachi seemed to listen for about a second, then blurted out: "Sasuke's awake."

Silence from the other end, and Itachi repeated that one, simple fact, as though it only just occurred to him.

"Sasuke's awake."


	2. Chapter 2

Az: Well, here I am again with another story. Sorry I completely forgot to introduce this at the start of the first chapter, that was dumb. I've been working on this for a while, and have a lot of it down (whoo, slightly organised!) and I don't know if it might be confusing at first… Hopefully everything shall become clear in a few chapters or so if that is the case. Read and review, et cetera.

Chapter Two

It seemed like almost an eternity until the end of Kabuto's shift, during which Itachi paced around outside his brother's room. He had only looked in once, and that was only for an instant, just to check that his brother really did seem dead to the world once again. The room was dark like it was supposed to be; Sasuke's pale, thin arms lying carefully at his sides, the drip doing its job once more. The elder Uchiha could almost believe that the afternoon hadn't happened, if not for the slight frown cast across his brother's features. Somehow, he didn't want to see that again, so instead he paced, senses straining for some sign of awareness from the other side of the wall.

Itachi had managed to convince his mother that Sasuke wouldn't be awake until morning, which was true, and that it would only be a waste of time and energy to stand in his room until he awoke.

In the same gentle, persuasive way that came from knowing a person for years, Kabuto managed to convince Itachi himself that Sasuke wouldn't hate him (he hadn't added 'even more than he already does', as they were both avoiding the topic of Sasuke's outburst like it had never happened) if he went home and slept.

And so, when the doctor finally knocked off at six and came to join the anxious brother, he turned away from the door he still hadn't managed to open again, and, with a great deal of restraint, managed to leave the hallway outside his brother's room without glancing back once.

He stood, calm and composed in the elevator, and walked home again with his head held high, not glancing at anyone or anything, not even Kabuto, though he could practically see the sympathy rolling in waves off the white-haired doctor out of the corner of his eyes.

No, he wouldn't let his public façade fail, most of the citizens still respected him, even after what had happened between him and his father.

When the apartment door finally shut the rest of society out, Itachi only waited until both outer coats had been removed before wrapping his arms around the doctor from behind and nibbling lightly on his neck.

"So I suppose this means you don't want any dinner?"

The only reply Kabuto got was being shuffled closer to the stairs that led to the bedroom.

He complied.

Kabuto always knew what was best. Itachi supposed it came from being naturally sensible. The doctor never needed explanations to go with sometimes inexplicable actions; didn't ask for confessions of love, knowing it would be very difficult coming from a person like him. He always seemed to know what Itachi needed, from a cup of tea when his throat was getting dry after reading aloud to Sasuke from his current favourite novel, to time to be alone when he'd had yet another fight with his father. In this case, it was comfort that he desired, and the other man seemed more than willing to give it.

Itachi might even go as far as to say that he trusted him.

When Sasuke woke up again, faster this time, and not nearly as comfortably, there were voices conversing outside his door. He smouldered, biding his time until the torturers came into the room. It had become obvious to him when his cursed brother and the traitor had worked together to restrain him that Orochimaru and Akatsuki had decided to work together, and that he had been kidnapped, but the sensible part of his mind was having trouble believing him.

For one thing, he wasn't strapped to the bed, or in any way restrained. The door was the usual plywood affair, and there were no locks in sight. Even the window, bar-less, he had come to see, was partially open to let in a spring breeze.

His bedside clock, which sat next to a framed picture of his family, read 8.59 AM, and everything seemed rather domestic. It made him suspicious. Domestic hadn't been a part of his life for several years. Not since his family had …

Sasuke sat up. What if his brother was back again? With the flick of a hand, slightly slower than it would have been had he been in top condition, he removed the needle from his wrist again, ignoring the stinging pain it caused, and sat, ready to attack if it was necessary, which seemed fairly likely.

A few minutes of tense waiting later, the door finally opened, a white-sleeved appendage attached to it. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as Kabuto walked into the room, murmured something to the people standing outside, then closed the door. He didn't approach the bed, just looked at its occupant with even eyes.

"How are you feeling this morning?"

Sasuke didn't reply. If there was one thing that he had been taught about being tortured, it was that saying nothing is better than even insulting people. You never know what might slip out. Instead, he just glared again.

The 'doctor' rolled his dark eyes behind his trademark round glasses.

"If I come near the bed, are you going to lash out at me?"

Sasuke glared.

He could almost see when the infiltrator started down a different reasoning line. He took a deep breath in, eyes flicking to the left for a moment as he quickly thought of what to say next, then looked back at the boy.

"I know you're anxious to see your family, but I'm not supposed to allow you any visitors until you've answered some questions for me."

Kabuto took a step away from the wall where he had been standing, paused as if to gather strength, then crossed quickly to the seat by the bed where Sasuke's brother had been sleeping the day before and sat down uncomfortably, perching on the edge of the seat like he was ready to bolt away at any second.

Sasuke did not attack. Instead, he continued to bide his time. His true target was his brother. Traitors could wait until he had finished with him.

As the Uchiha boy glared a hole in the wall, Kabuto took a pen out of the pocket of his white coat and put it to paper, quickly filling in the date, and patient's name.

"Alright, this is a fairly obvious question, but it has to be asked. Do you remember your name?"

Silence.

"Alright, what about your parents?"

Yet more silence.

The interviewer sighed wearily, and lowered his clipboard. It seemed that Itachi's younger brother either had something seriously wrong with him, or was holding a serious grudge, which seemed unlikely, since this was the second meeting the two had ever had while Sasuke was awake. His discouraged eyes dropped to the reddened skin around the place where the needle in the younger Uchiha's wrist was _supposed_ to be, and sighed.

"Cute." He muttered dryly.

Sasuke continued to stare at the wall like it had personally offended him.

The door burst open, and Sasuke's father tumbled into the room, followed closely by his mother, uncles, aunts, and brother.

"I'm sorry… doctor, but this interview is taking too long, and I am anxious to see my son."

Sasuke's head turned slowly until his vision encompassed the entirety of his extended and close family, all milling around and giving him teary and relieved looks. As they started towards him, everything seemed to slow down. He could hear the blood roaring through his head, and his pulse picked up, the machine at his right starting to beep distressingly. The rage at his brother increased tenfold, that he would have the _audacity_ to torture him like that, and, not really knowing what he was doing, just knowing that he wanted the impersonators to _leave the room_, he picked up the nearest solid object, and hurled it into the thick of the crowd.

"GET OUT!"

Confusion rippled through the ranks, the photo frame bursting on the wall behind someone's head, and he ripped the clock away from the wall, and tossed that too, still screaming.

The world collapsed back into black like a television being suddenly unplugged from the wall.

His last cogent thought was a curse towards Kabuto for hitting that damned nerve again.

Az: Well, that was another chapter… Please tell me what you think … It makes me happy.


	3. Chapter 3

Here I am again, with more story. Due to popular request, it's longer than the last few (barely, I want to make my material last), and I hope you all enjoy it in all it's crazy, mixed-up glory.

Kabuto wasn't the Uchiha family doctor. In fact, there was a member of the Uchiha clan who did that, and occasionally came in to help when the hospital needed extra staff. Kabuto had only been a certified doctor, instead of an on-site medical ninja for about three months, and certainly hadn't specialised his training yet. But somehow, when Itachi's father led his inconsolable wife to a place where he knew he could get some form of an answer for his younger son's behaviour, he knew that Kabuto was the best person to go to.

Though he was wroth to admit it, the young man was practically a member of the family. Some wry part of his mind told him that the doctor was about as close to a wife as his elder son, the Uchihas' heir, was going to get.

Needless to say, that thought didn't go down well, and he secretly hoped that the boy thought that it was anger that was making his neck to red as he helped his wife into the doctor's office.

The pale man looked up, his eyes grimacing while his face stayed perfectly still, and seeming perfectly composed as he pushed some paperwork away, and linked his fingers on his desktop.

In a way, Itachi's father could see how the two suited each other so well. Itachi was hard to read, as he showed next to no emotions. Kabuto was hard to read, as he showed next to no emotions. He wasn't really sure they were good for each other, but they certainly suited one another.

"I suppose you want to know about your son's behaviour?"

The head of the Uchiha clan nodded gravely.

"Well," Kabuto shifted, glancing away uncomfortably, "we're not precisely sure why he reacts so violently to the presence of people that he knows."

That did not sound good. The Uchiha family was always rational, unless there was something seriously wrong. Even as a child, Sasuke had been no exception to this rule. To see him lose his rag like that had been …

His wife, after finally drying her eyes, started to tear up again.

"You mean it wasn't just us?"

The young doctor looked even more uncomfortable than he had been before. He cleared his throat, mind obviously searching for a nice way to say what was probably to be bad news.

"Well, when he first woke, he … expressed violent emotions towards your other son, by… attempting to kill him."

The father let this slowly digest through his brain.

"You're telling me after waking up from a 6 year coma, the first thing my son tries to do is kill his brother?"

He sank back into his seat and covered his face with his hands, stifling a sigh. He hadn't expected things to suddenly go right when Sasuke woke up, he had been prepared to finally open up and help his disorientated younger son get back upon his feet again. He was not prepared in any way, name, shape or form for such open hostility. Even Itachi, who had absolutely no reason to care for his father didn't radiate such hate.

Where had he gone wrong as a father?

Kabuto cleared his throat again, snapping the head of the Uchiha clan out of his widening pit of gloom.

"We're planning to run some tests on your son tomorrow, and we should have the results by that afternoon. You're welcome to visit again then."

A dismissal.

Gathering his wife to him, Sasuke's father stood up and thanked the boy quietly, before leading the poor woman home. It seemed that their presence could do no good.

At noon the following day, the young doctor once again found himself sitting next to his partner's younger brother's bed.

Of course he had lied to the Uchiha family. Any medical ninja worth their salt needed to be able to tell almost instantly if there was something wrong with one of their companions. There was nothing physically wrong with Sasuke besides having been in bed for too long. His mind was not even slightly unfocussed; rather it seemed to display pinpoint precision on any thought that was currently in his consciousness. Like he was constantly on the alert.

"Sasuke-kun, I know that you understand me perfectly. No doubt you're disorientated, but there is no reason to treat this like an interrogation."

At this, the Uchiha's hands clenched slightly on the hospital bed sheets, and his glare, focussed on the wall opposite, seemed to intensify.

He'd struck a nerve, huh? Now to throw in the other deciding factor to sort out Sasuke …

"This isn't an interrogation. Your brother, Itachi, is rather upset about the way you've been acting." Kabuto let a few personal facts slip in, trying to provoke the boy… "Your family is upset too. Especially with the way you've been treating your brother, which is quite a big thing, considering how they haven't been on the best of terms for years …"

Sasuke snorted, then finally replied. "Dead doesn't leave much room for good terms."

Kabuto blinked. "Dead? Who's dead?"

The dark-haired boy glanced sharply over, his eyes penetrating Kabuto's, suspicion clearly evident. "My family."

Kabuto decided not to point out what he considered obvious, and instead pushed on to what he considered the root of the problem.

"And why are your family dead?"

Itachi chose that incredibly bad moment to enter the room, and Kabuto practically swore as Sasuke almost visibly clammed up.

Kabuto sucked in a deep breath, attempting to calm down. Slowly, he swivelled in his seat, and fixed the older brother with a positively glacial look.

"Itachi, do you mind waiting outside for a while?"

The older Uchiha nodded and left the room again, but Sasuke was back to glaring at the wall. Discouraged, Kabuto's eyes dropped down to the bed covers, and the abandoned IV tube.

"Cute."

At this point, the doctor decided it would be best to retreat and regroup. He doubted he'd get any more out of the younger Uchiha that day.

Standing, Kabuto politely told Sasuke to have a nice day, then strode out of the room to Itachi, who waited patiently in the corridor.

"That was particularly bad timing."

His partner didn't apologise, just nodded. As to be expected. Kabuto had always thought that apologies sounded hollow, and they sounded even worse coming from a sociopath like Itachi, frankly, was. He knew that his father didn't find that such a bad trait in a ninja, but it still didn't make for good personal relations.

"Oh."

They both left it at that, Kabuto leaning against the wall with a sigh, and Itachi continuing to wear a blasé expression.

"He thinks his family is dead."

That sparked a reaction, and Itachi stared suddenly at the doctor, dark eyes intense.

"And…" Kabuto sighed, continuing, "my belief is, judging his reaction to you, that you were the murderer."

Just as the younger had done, the elder scowled slightly, sticking his lower lip out slightly, and seemed to visibly cut himself off from the topic.

The doctor glanced at his watch. "Today I get off at nine. It's best that I meet you at home tonight, or your parole officer will have your head."

Itachi scowled darker than he had been moments before, then looked away. "He can try."

Kabuto sighed again. Neither of the two appreciated having Hatake Kakashi as their 'caretaker', but the Hokage had deemed it somehow appropriate to safeguard one sharingan user with another. All three of them knew that Itachi was strong enough to beat Kakashi if he ever had the need to, but for the sake of appearances, and escaping harsher punishment than he had already received, he found it best to just to cooperate with the jounin. And that meant sticking to the curfew. He had to be home at eight each night, or, if he had to be out later, he had to be accompanied by Kakashi, and sign what seemed like a tree's worth of forms. In blood.

Finally, the Uchiha heir nodded slightly and turned to go. Where he was headed, he wasn't precisely sure. Possibly to the training grounds, maybe home…

He didn't know what to do with himself, now that his brother was awake. Before he had woken, sitting next to his brother had just been part of his daily schedule when not on missions. It was odd, how it had happened. Few would have believed that the elder Uchiha would show so much devotion to his ailing brother. And few knew the truth behind it all. His partner interrupted his thought process just as he reached the elevator.

"I'm having dinner with my father tomorrow night. Are you going to come?"

Oh good. Another dinner with the smuggest man in all of Konoha. Itachi carefully weighed up his options. On one hand, he'd be stuck in the same room with as Kabuto's obnoxious extended family for several hours. On the other hand, if he shirked away again, the doctor might get put out. Humans were odd creatures. Mentally sighing, he finally conceded defeat. It was the only place that particular anomaly ever happened.

"Fine."

Then the doctor was there, and in a rare display of public affection, wrapped Itachi in a hug from behind, leaning his head against his shoulder blades. "I'll get the forms ready, then."

The elevator, which had been summoned before, dinged merrily and opened, letting Itachi's mother and father out. Smoothly, without a trace of embarrassment, the two withdrew from each other, the Uchiha sidestepping his parents and moving into the elevator before it closed, not sparing either a glance, and Kabuto adjusting his glasses.

"Good afternoon, sir, madam." The doctor greeted mildly, nodding his head slightly to each of them.

Itachi's mother, less inclined than her husband to condemn the pair, but still preoccupied with thoughts of Sasuke, smiled wearily at her elder son's partner. "Good afternoon, Kabuto-kun."

Itachi's father grunted, sticking his lower lip out in a stubborn scowl, just as his sons did, and glancing away from the end of what he considered a shameful display.

Kabuto, thoroughly used to receiving that sort of reception from the head of the Uchiha clan, spoke calmly and pleasantly to his 'mother in law' as he lead the couple towards Sasuke's room.

Finally, formalities were put aside, and Sasuke's mother asked the question hat had been burning a hole in her tongue: "What's wrong with my son?"

The white haired doctor paused outside the door to the young man's room, and turned back to the two visitors. "There's nothing physically wrong with Sasuke-kun. He does, however appear to have a psychological problem of sorts."

Sasuke's mother looked distressed once more. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not quite sure at this point in time." the doctor replied, keeping his eyes carefully trained on Itachi's mother's face. He couldn't afford for the couple to know he was lying, or he might lose their trust. And he might not get to finally figure out the younger Uchiha. In a way, Kabuto didn't consider it lying. He preferred not to come to people with half the story, and at this stage, he was still fumbling around for the light-switch; nowhere near actually figuring out the situation. The Uchihas would have to wait.

Unsure whether the distrustful look on Sasuke's father's face was because the policeman had figured out that Kabuto was concealing something, or merely because he was still sulking about catching the two in the middle of a rare moment, he motioned towards the door and the two entered their son's room.

Kabuto waited in the hallway to pick up the pieces afterwards.

END CHAPTER

Well, that's another chapter done. In case someone hadn't noticed, I have a slight grudge against Sasuke. Let's just say he's never been my favourite character. So why am I writing a story about him, you ask? Not because I want to see him suffer (though it is rather amusing), but more to try and expand and stretch his character. It's interesting to try.

Next chapter: We meet everyone's favourite blonde kitsune.


	4. Chapter 4

Az: And I'm here again, with another update. This time Naruto appears out of the blue, and I reveal one of the other ways in which I am screwing with the plot (mwuahahaha). Just don't immediately leap on me for it, m'kay?

START CHAPTER

Before he entered the room or rather, decided whether or not he _wanted_ to enter the room, the blonde hid behind the partially opened door and peered suspiciously into the dining room. There was everyone, on time and waiting. Eyes narrowed to slits, he almost smiled. What a 'family' gathering.

There was his father, sitting at the head of the table and at least three feet away from the other diners, official hat discarded for the time being, but robes still on. Around the middle of the gargantuan wooden table sat his elder brother, hair out from its usual pony tail and dressed nicely. Opposite him, but still about four feet away as the table was so damn wide, sat his brother's boyfriend (bleargh), nicknamed 'The Guy with the Creepy Eyes', dressed like he had just come back from a mission. At the opposite end of the table, a grand total of about twelve feet away from the other end, sat an empty place where he guessed he was supposed to sit. To add to the 'homely' feel of the gathering, in a chair shoved off on one of the corners of the table, sat that guy with the white bushy hair and a sardonic smile that followed The Guy with the Creepy Eyes.

One of the two ANBU guards at the door shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and the spy's attention was drawn from the occupants of the table to the wide double doors. Having two armed ninjas in masks really didn't help the mood, either.

"Naruto-kun, are you going to keep standing at the door, or are you going to come in?"

Wide mouth turned down at the corners and eyes narrowed to suspicious slits which blended well with the three marks on each of his cheeks in his trademark scowl, the blonde reluctantly opened the door and stepped inside. He could almost _feel_ five sets of eyes instantly turning to him. The only one who didn't look up was the bushy-haired, smiling guard, who continued to stare almost vacantly at the wall, head propped up on one hand.

At this stage, Naruto felt rather foolish. Why on earth did he think that he could hide from the Hokage, the Hokage's adopted son (a very good medical ninja, said to be on-par with any jounin), the boyfriend (bleargh) of said son, his guard and two ANBU? Scowl still firmly in place, the Hokage's other adopted son practically stomped round to his place and sat down, arms crossed stubbornly over his chest.

The Hokage turned the corners of his mouth up, but the rest of the smile seemed to get lost somewhere between his mouth and his eyes. "So nice of you to join us, son."

Typically, Kabuto waited until his father had spoken before speaking himself, offering Naruto a smile of his own, but this one seemed to actually hold slight fondness for the kitsune. "Hey Naruto-kun, how're things?"

"A lot better if I wasn't all alone in a palace of boring people," he grunted in reply.

The white-haired doctor's smile turned slightly guilty. "You can come and stay with us for a few nights if you want, any time."

Naruto was amused to watch as Itachi gave his brother as close to an incredulous look as he had ever seen on the stoic man's face from the other side of the table, and catching that, Kabuto threw another look back. Communication continued to crackle between the two, and the 'Copy-cat' ninja finally looked at the Hokage's younger son, smiling, though it was hard to tell with the mask on his face.

"Come now young-master, if you're so bored, you can come out with me for some company any time you want."

If there were two things that Naruto resented more than his father, it was people being nice to him because his father was the village leader, and being called 'young master'. "No way, you're creepy."

There was silence at the table, broken only by the sound of Kakashi chuckling.

Orochimaru put down his chopsticks and pushed his appetiser away, strange, slitted eyes stern.

"Naruto, if you're going to be rude to a guest, you can leave the room."

Chair scraping loudly against the marble-tiled floor, the blonde pushed away from the table and stood up.

"Fine. It's not like I enjoy your company anyway."

Making a rude face at his family and various other uninvited guests, Naruto stomped out of the room again, forgetting his dinner.

There was silence in the room again, punctuated by a pointed slamming of the dining room door.

"… Teenagers, ne?"

Kabuto forced a quiet laugh at his own comment, trying to lighten the atmosphere, but the Hokage had already slipped into a dark mood. When he was in 'one of his moods', it was better to shut up and keep your head down. He was quietly glad that the table was so damn big.

For three damn days, he had been sitting in a hospital bed, bored out of his mind. Apart from daily visits from his 'parents', no one but the nurses had been anywhere near him.

This was it, whatever had happened to him, he was officially recovered enough to leave.

Removing the needle from his wrist once more, Sasuke laid it to the side and cautiously slipped out of bed. And flat onto his face.

Arms straining, the dark haired boy managed to lift his upper body off the ground, teeth gritted in determination, and feeling like a new-born kitten.

The door to his room opened, and a familiar orange-clad figure stepped into the room, muttering darkly to himself about 'damn disappearing brothers'.

"Naruto!"

The blonde looked up from his grumbling, glancing suspiciously around the room.

"Who's there?"

"Look down, dobe!"

Naruto looked down at Sasuke's prone form, delaying his surprise as an eyebrow twitched. "Do- dobe?"

"Oi," the Uchiha growled, thoroughly sick of looking so pathetic in front of someone he knew (he'd never hear the end of this), "shut up and help me up."

The partially angry, partially curious blonde crouched down next to Sasuke, expression a puzzled frown. Naruto reached out a hand, but instead of offering it to him, poked him in the forehead with a finger. "Who're you calling dobe, aka-chan?"

Sasuke snarled, but refused to rise to the insult. The kitsune had called him worse things than 'baby' before. Sucking a deep breath in and consoling himself with the thought of embarrassing the hell outta Naruto later, once he remembered how to walk, Sasuke closed his eyes and resigned himself to his fate. "Naruto… please help me up."

Feeling merciful for the boy that before Naruto had only seen lying in a bed, looking dead, he carefully helped the thin, pale looking boy back into his bed, then stepped back. He could ignore how rude he was for now, so long as he didn't need to be in the same room for too long. His brother would have to turn up eventually; this boy was Kabuto's pet-patient.

Dark eyes focussed on his lap and hands clenched on his knees, Naruto watched, head tilted to one side as the boy slowly worked up the courage (or maybe the humility?) to ask a question that was so obviously bugging him.

"Naruto… how long have I been here?"

He decided to counter that with his own question: "How do you know my name?"

The dark-eyed boy looked up, surprise written all over his face. His expression turned grim, eyes lighting up with a strange kind of recognition. The boy nodded solemnly. "I understand, Naruto. They've gotten to you too. Please help me to the window."

The feeling that the blonde was overcome with could only be described as morbid curiosity. He knew that this wouldn't end well, but his brother's patient was obviously crazy, and in a way, it was enthralling to try and figure out what he'd do next.

Naruto obediently helped the crazy boy to stand again, and cautiously helped him over to the open window, glancing at the three-story drop to the ground, and wondering.

His brother's patient pushed gently away from him, then took an unsteady step forward, bracing himself on the windowsill. "I'll be back, Naruto. Hold out until then."

The dark-haired boy pulled himself onto the window sill and jumped …

The green glow of healing-chakra lit up Kabuto's pale face and make him look not just furious, but sick as well. "What were you thinking!"

Standing on the opposite side of the bed, also leaning over Sasuke's _really_ broken leg and looking intensely guilty, the green sapping some of the tanned-glow from his features, was Naruto. "I don't know, it seemed like a good idea at the time!"

Through the veil of pain that seemed to blossom out from his leg and soak through the rest of his body, Sasuke watched the two bicker.

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard! Sasuke could have been killed! _Killed_!"

"I didn't _know_ he'd jump out of the window! Why'd he jump out the window!" Naruto screamed back, pointing a finger rudely at Sasuke's nose. "What's wrong with this idiot!"

Kabuto snorted, then retorted, "Idiot? That's rich, coming from you."

Naruto stuck his lower lip out, eyes slits once more. "Kabuto-anikiiii…"

The doctor sighed as the blond continued to wail, pushing his glasses back up his nose with his free hand. "Yes, alright, I'll drop it, just be quiet so I can concentrate."

Naruto closed his mouth, still pouting, and watching the boy, who he now knew was Sasuke.

The pain in his leg slowly started to lessen, Sasuke opened his eyes fully, his brain starting to function again properly, at least for the moment. He had never known pain to feel so… painful. Not for a few years, at least. And he'd been in worse scrapes than just a broken leg…

Wait a second. Sasuke's mind leapt quickly through the conversation that had just taken place, and his eyes widened. 'Kabuto-aniki'! What was wrong with the world?

The Uchiha struggled to sit up, fighting waves of healing-induced lethargy. "Wait, he's your brother? Who told you that?"

Failing against the encroaching sleepiness, Sasuke leant back on his pillows again, glaring at the ceiling. "Itachi, you bastard…"

Not caring if anyone answered any more, Sasuke shut his eyes and let the comforting darkness prompted by the healing take over.

Kabuto sat back with a sigh, the knitting of the broken bone finally done. "You two take years off my life, you really do."

Naruto frowned slightly, glancing at his bag, in the corner by the door. "What do you mean by that?"

Smiling wearily, the doctor tugged lightly on a lock of his own hair. "I'm going grey already."

The frown on his brother's face lightened slightly, changing from a sullen look to the look of a teenager who thinks he's being treated like a kid. "Ha. Ha ha ha. Very funny."

If there was one thing that Kabuto appreciated having a slightly goofy younger brother for, it was comic relief. Before Naruto had been old enough to speak (and therefore talk back), his life had been rather humourless. His father, Orochimaru had adopted him when he was young, but being the Hokage and similar to Itachi with his emotional problems, Kabuto had been raised by a nurse, then a caretaker before and after attending the academy. Being with the blond seemed to help him relive and improve his own childhood, to the extent that the doctor had found himself, on the odd occasion, crouched with Naruto around the corner of a corridor, waiting for one of the various advisors to fall into one of their elaborate traps, made that much more effective (and evil) by the use of practically jounin skill levels.

When Kabuto had started dating (if you could call it that), and decided that his talents as a doctor were more useful than his skills at killing things, he had moved out from where he lived with Naruto and their father, and began to focus a lot of his spare time into studying. For the last few months, Kabuto had only seen Naruto at family dinners (meaning they saw each other for about five minutes, in-between Naruto stomping into the room, insulting someone, then stomping out of the room), and the times that Naruto had decided he needed company and came and sought his brother out at the hospital.

"Ne, Kabuto-aniki, can I stay with you tonight?"

The doctor nodded. He had noticed his brother eyeing a bag that he had left by the door as they argued, and each glance had been getting more and more anxious. "Of course you can. I said you could come whenever you wanted to, didn't I?"

With a squeal, Naruto launched himself at his brother, and Kabuto stood patiently still as the blond caught him with a flying hug, practically knocking the two over.

A strangled noise escaped from the doctor's lips. "You're getting too big to do this, you know."

Grinning and pulling back, Naruto fondly ruffled his hair. "Nah, you're just short, Kabuto-aniki."

Before another brotherly argument could ensue, the door opened again.

Itachi looked from his sleeping brother to the other set of siblings in the room, giving them a semi-quizzical look as the younger (slightly taller, and still growing) hugged the elder enthusiastically.

"He's asleep?"

Kabuto pulled away from Naruto and adjusted his glasses. "Well, actually Sasuke-kun had a slight accident."

"Accident?"

"Well, accident as to say… threw himself out the window…"

Slight? Itachi doubted that counted as a 'slight accident' in anyone's books.

The elder Uchiha took a deep breath in, eyes closed, then opened them again. "Why did he do that?"

Kabuto pointed at his younger brother. "Ask him. He was there at the time."

Itachi turned to the blond. "Naruto, same question."

"Ano…" Naruto looked away from the elder Uchiha's piercing black eyes, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. "Well, I came into the room, and he was lying on the floor. He…" giving the sleeping boy a searching look, Naruto trailed off for a moment, "couldn't move properly, so I helped him onto the bed. Ano-sa, Kabuto-aniki, have you told Sasuke-kun my name?"

The white haired doctor shook his head slowly. "Not that I know of…"

The blond looked perplexed. "Sasuke-kun knows my name…"

Itachi looked hard at Naruto, who was looking confusedly at Kabuto, who glanced at Sasuke's prone form.

"I see," Kabuto finally muttered, his expression vague.

From extended contact with the young doctor, Itachi knew that was his 'scheming' face. He was thinking of something that would probably be clever, efficient, but not necessarily merciful to any party involved. He wasn't sure whether he should be encouraging him, or beating him down with a stick before it got too bad.

His eyes, filled with indecision to anyone that knew how to read them, flicked from Sasuke to Kabuto, then back again.

If it would do something about his brother …

Itachi decided to ignore the significant looks the scheming doctor was throwing at his completely unaware sibling, and hope for the best.

He would have to trust Kabuto.

Just this once.

CHAPTER END

Az: Well, that's it for this time… I hope people enjoyed it, and will review… I love getting reviews. They fill my inbox with joy, that lights up my otherwise dreary day. And don't kill me for being weird. It's a hobby.


	5. Chapter 5

Author Note: Whoopies. Been a while since I updated this one. I've been meaning to, I just keep forgetting. Which is super-lazy of me, since I have a lot more than this chapter written. Hope you enjoy, even if it has been a while.

* * *

Three bowls of ramen later (two of which consumed by one person, who was still up for more), the two brothers sat in IchiRaku Ramen, with Naruto blathering inanely about his life in general between mouthfuls, and Kabuto stirring the remains of his first and only bowl with his chopsticks, pretending to listen, a talent that had taken years to develop. It was actually a rather complex screening process, which balanced picking up facts about his brother's life with ignoring the minutes of clag in between. He was walking the line between ignoring the blond all together, and driving himself slowly insane by trying to run Naruto's rather erratic thought patterns through his rather logical psyche. The two different minds didn't connect on many levels, so the elder thought it was best to do that, rather than snap five minutes in, and start shaking the kitsune by the shoulders and growling at him to start making sense.

"Ne, Naruto-kun," Kabuto said in one of the gaps between subjects, usually punctuated by slurping, "I'm glad you're staying with us."

The blond put down his bowl and grinned, eyes slitted again and teeth showing, at his brother. "Thanks, Kabuto-aniki. I don't want to stay with the old man any more."

"Why's that?"

Naruto glared at his second empty bowl. "Otou-sama doesn't see me as a person, as his son, he sees me as a container!"

The doctor watched as one of his brother's hand unconsciously strayed to the seal on his stomach. With a sigh he gave up the ghost and put down his chopsticks, pushing his partially eaten bowl away and turning to face his troubled brother.

"Naruto-kun," Kabuto cautiously placed a hand on the blonds hair, and flicked him in the forehead protector with the other hand, "What does this mean?"

Naruto transferred his sour look from his bowl to his sibling. Whenever Naruto happened to get upset about anything family-related, it would always end like that. Kabuto knew perfectly well that his brother's view of the leaf forehead protector went surprisingly deeper than anyone might have thought it would, and usually, when asked to explain, ended in Naruto once again standing on top of whatever tall object he could find (be it a lamp post or convenient rock), in what he called the 'nice guy' pose, gushing about how he was going to step out of his father's shadow and become the next Hokage. Until then, Naruto had to be reminded that being a shinobi was an honour, and the first step towards achieving his goal. Ultimately, otou-sama had the best in mind for both his sons, and was stern and seemingly uncaring because he wanted them to give their best.

Inside, the doctor knew this might not actually be the case, but it seemed the best thing to tell his brother. Much less disillusioning.

"Naruto-kun," Kabuto murmured, filling in the reflective silence that had taken hold of the conversation, causing the ramen man to give the two a rather odd look, "while you're staying with us …"

Never one to beat around the bush, whether from lack of subtlety or lack of patience for subtlety, the doctor could never be sure, the blond instantly looked suspicious. "What do you want?"

"Well," the white-haired doctor did his best cute and pleasant look, "when you aren't training, or on a mission, I was wondering whether you could keep Sasuke-kun entertained. He seems rather bored on his own."

Naruto sipped reflectively on his bowl. "No time."

Kabuto dropped the look.

"Oh, come on, you have plenty of time!"

Another sip, drawing the dregs out of the bowl. "One more, thanks."

"Naruto-kun," the doctor sighed, "please listen? I thought it might be nice for you to make a friend your age, and now that you don't have an excuse to hang around the palace all day like some sort of sulking, vengeful spirit with trip wires, you'll have plenty of time to spare."

Naruto took his next bowl from the ramen guy, then gave his brother yet another penetrating look. "Are you buying?"

"Of course."

"Every night for a week."

Kabuto inwardly grimaced. That would make a severe dent in the household budget, not to mention taking away from his time to relax in his apartment. Just him and Itachi… He quickly got a hold of himself. With his brother snoozing on the fold-out couch, there wasn't going to be much relaxation time anyway.

Catch 22 again. Kabuto sighed, slumping over his cooling bowl.

"Fine, fine."

Curses.

* * *

Ino was, as typical for most of her days, bored witless. She could have been out on a mission. She could have been out training. Hell, she'd even enjoy trying to help Sakura-chan with her clothing shopping more than sitting behind the counter of her parent's florist shop trying to stay awake. Head propped up on one hand, Yamanaka Ino sighed pointedly for the -inth time that afternoon, and wished feverently that someone might actually come into the shop.

Almost like magic, the bell positioned strategically over the door jingled.

"Irasha- NARUTO!"

Before the blond even had a chance to properly get into the door, she had him in a hold somewhere between a hug and a headlock, squealing.

"Eh, konichiwa, Ino-chan …"

"Naruto-kuun, why did you come? Are you here to brighten my day?"

The girl stepped back to eye the general mood of her prey, to find the Hokage's son blushing furiously and looking at his shoes. Ino knew that the public opinion of Naruto wasn't great. But, he was cute, hard working, and loaded. What else could a girl hope for in a guy?

"Eeeto, I'm here to buy flowers, actually,"

He was also fun to tease. He looked even cuter when his feathers were ruffled. "Flowers? For me? Why Naruto-kun, I'm flattered, you shouldn't have!"

She reattached herself to his arm. She felt entitled to. She was the one-person Naruto fan-girl club, and the only girl that had really shown interest in him so far besides Hinata. And Hinata didn't pose a threat to anyone. It seemed likely that she might even ask him to marry her someday. It wasn't like there was anyone else.

"Uh… well…"

Ino watched with fond glee as the blushing blond's mind worked furiously to try and figure out how to turn her down and not insult her. Not the fastest ship in the fleet, but very cute.

"Uh … I'm visiting a sick … friend … in hospital …"

"Sick? Who's sick?"

Surely she would have heard if anyone had been admitted to hospital.

"Well … " scratching his head cutely, Naruto edged towards shelter behind a topiary tree, "you remember Uchiha Sasuke? He was in our class for a while, until he got sick."

"Hm… Uchiha Sasuke? You mean the younger brother of … _Itachi_?"

Almost out of habit, Ino glanced around the deserted shop to make sure no one noticed she was talking about him.

Naruto nodded in affirmative. "Well, he's awake."

"Really? How interesting."

She had almost forgotten about the rather cute, dark-haired little boy that had been in her class when they were nine.

"So," Ino moved away from her prey and rearranged a display of lilies, "you're bringing him flowers?"

A pointedly raised eyebrow was all it took to make the Hokage's son instantly defensive.

"Well," he protested weakly, "that's what you bring sick people."

The blonde girl nodded and conceded him that point. "alright, what kind of flowers do you want to bring him?"

"Eeeto…"

She was going to make sure that it took a wonderfully long time for this boy to get his flowers.

* * *

Sasuke opened his eyes as the door to his room opened. Lately, since the rather embarrassing incident with the window, Sasuke had been spending most of his time sleeping, and the rest of his time doing as many exercises in his bed that he could get away with. Weight lifting with an empty vase. Sit ups. Stretching his legs mercilessly. His physical condition, much like much of his life since he had woken up, was embarrassing. It all just seemed like one big lesson in humility. His ego had taken a battering, but this hadn't stopped him acting coolly superior to everyone. He could tell it was all one big mind game and a way to wear down his resolve.

The door opened, and the one person that he actually wanted to see came in.

"Naruto! You're back! What happened?"

The kitsune put down his bag, which made a significant clunk, and pulled a bunch of healthy, perky looking geraniums out from behind his back.

"These are, eh, for you." Naruto confessed, completely ignoring Sasuke's question. He decided to let it slide for a second.

"You're giving me flowers?"

"Well," the blond sounded wearily defensive, like he'd had this conversation before, "you're supposed to give sick people flowers."

"Keep them. There's obviously something deeply wrong with you."

Naruto ignored this, and stuck the flowers, wrapper and all, into the vase by his bed. The one he liked to train with. Soon he'd move onto the clock.

There was something strange about the way the blond was acting. Slightly more mature than usual. Slightly detached, like he was talking to a stranger.

Dark eyes narrowed, and a bony hand shot out, grabbing an orange-clad wrist and pulling the other boy off balance, and his ear near his mouth. Naruto made a semi-strangled noise, but was held in place.

"Naruto, does the cold duck fly south?"

The shock widened blue eyes narrowed slightly. He obviously recognised the Konoha ninja's general code. It meant 'what's the situation?'

"Not only do they fly, but they sing."

'Situation optimal.'

Naruto pulled away and pushed his clothing back into order, scowling at the wall.

Sasuke mentally sighed with relief. Even grade-schoolers could decipher the code, but it was special to the Hidden Leaf Village, and it was unlikely that such a simple code would have been taught by either Orochimaru or Itachi to their flunkies; they would expect the more complex codes to be used.

In silence, Naruto trailed back over to his bag, quickly shot a meaningful look at the door, and opened the zipper. Sasuke watched as several board games, comics, and a pack of cards emerged.

"Didn't you bring something useful?"

The blond stiffened slightly. "Like what?"

"Like weights? I need to get back into top form as soon as possible."

Seeming disarmed, he shot a wry look back, something that Sasuke had been convinced that the boy couldn't summon in a flying fit, and picked up the deck of cards.

"Cards it is. Do you remember how to play go fish?"

"Go jump off a cliff. I'm not going to play that childish game with you, you idiot."

"Well then," Naruto grated out, trying to still sound cheerful and failing spectacularly, "what do you want to play? Black jack? Cheat? Poker?"

"I don't want to play cards, Naruto."

"Ano-sa …" he took the cards out of their packet and started absently shuffling them, still crouching by his bag, "how do you know my name?"

Sasuke blinked. "I was in your class."

He didn't get to the part about the rest of their long and extensive past together before the blond let out a long elaborate sigh, sounding intensely relieved. "So you remember me from there? You've got a good memory."

With that, the Uchiha's feeling that something was very very wrong increased tenfold. "Naruto, how long have I been in this bed?"

"Ettoo …" he squinted, mental abacus clicking, "six years, give or take a few months."

Sasuke's version reality took another serious blow.


End file.
